With springtime upon us, many look ahead with excitement to warmer weather, flowers in bloom and more hours of daylight. But for some, these signs of spring also bring the common frustrations associated with asthma and allergies. This is especially true for people who enjoy exercising outdoors.

Sharon Belvin was only 22 years old when she learned she had late-stage metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer. Despite undergoing a series of treatments that left her body ravaged and her spirit exhausted, her cancer kept coming back, each time worse than before.

Sharon Belvin was only 22 years old when she learned she had
late-stage metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer.
Despite undergoing a series of treatments that left her body ravaged and her spirit
exhausted, her cancer kept coming back, each time worse than before. Just when
she began to lose all hope, she met Cancer Research Institute clinical
investigator and Scientific Advisory Council member Dr. Jedd Wolchok at New
York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He began treating her with an
experimental immunotherapy called ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4), a monoclonal
antibody created by CRI Scientific Advisory Council director Dr. James Allison.

The therapy works by “taking the brakes off the immune
system,” allowing the body’s natural defenses to target and destroy cancer
without counterproductive restraint. The result: Sharon is cancer-free today
and has since gone on to have a beautiful girl, Lillybeth, and a boy, James.